In a Special Election held today to fill the vacant 86th House of Delegates seat Democrat Ibraheem Samirah defeated Republican Gregg Nelson easily.
The turnout was as low as expected due to this being a Special Election in February, but it is fair to say that Samirah underpreformed. While Democrats like Ralph Northam, Justin Fairfax, and Mark Herring breathe a sigh of relief, don’t think for a minute that Samirah’s win in the 86th is an indicator that the scandal ridden Democratic Party of Virginia won’t be held accountable come this November. There are several precincts that showed a significant drop off in Democrat percentage versus 2017 and that should worry Democrats throughout the Commonwealth. Samirah won tonight with 59%.
The 86th seat was won by Jennifer Boysko in 2015, who captured 54% and over 8,000 votes. Boysko won reelection in 2017 with an astounding 68% and over 16,000 votes, doubling her vote total from just two years earlier. Prior to 2015 the seat was held for a long time by former Herndon Mayor Tom Rust, who was a Republican, but not a conservative. The demographics of the 86th have shifted; this is now a solid Democrat seat. The Democrat nominee was supposed to win and Samirah out fundraised Nelson nearly 5 to 1.
Tonight’s election was just to fill the remaining term of Boysko, who is now a state senator. Samirah will have to defend his win right away as there will be a regular scheduled General Election for a full two year-term this coming November.
Samirah won his party’s nomination in a split four-way race with only 733 votes, which was good for 35%. That’s not exactly a mandate to serve. Since his nomination win his anti-Semitic ramblings have surfaced. He claimed that a person is better off giving money to the KKK than to Israel. He will likely be an embarrassment in the House of Delegates to Virginia Democrats and may help Republicans in other districts win this November.
But so long as Samirah is the Democrat nominee in the 86th you can expect him to be the Delegate of the 86th. Democrats need to primary this fool and turn out enough people to stop his 733 votes from locking him into this seat for a full two-year term.
Maybe things will change for this district down the road after the Democratic Party of Virginia continues to implode with scandals of racist blackface and sexual assault.
Republicans still hold the majority in the House of Delegates 51 to 49. The General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn the 2019 session this Saturday, so the new delegate from the 86th may be there for a cup of coffee and hopefully not longer than that. We suggest Samirah should not buy any green bananas.
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